Friendly Persuasion
by Addira
Summary: Marinette and Adrien have successful avoided being uncovered for so long, their identities somehow still hidden. That is until one fateful day where both Marinette and Adrien get discovered on the same day. Set before "Faded", this is a prologue. *rated M for later chapters*


And So it Begins

Most college libraries of Paris have a strict no cellphone rule, that is except for the Library in the Francoise Dupont college. Their librarian quit after being akumatised, claiming that the school was a centre for evil and criminals. She was always a weird person, even by French standards. 

So when a new librarian was hired and ripped off the 'no cellphone rule', every student rejoiced. This no cellphone rule came in quite handy when akumas would strike. Since then students were always charted to the Library if there was an akuma in the neighbourhood, the new right to use cellphones was considered to be some sort of godsend. The French School Board decided that this course of action was better since the previous system of "Run away! Go home!" Caused a lot of students to have lower grades and students were shamelessly skipping school claiming there was 'an akuma'.

Nino wasn't one of those people, maybe a year ago he would have skipped but now he stayed at school and worked on his music and followed the fight on the Ladyblog from the Library. In fact students so often went to the Library during akuma fights that the Ladyblog was often projected up on the white wall as if their heroes were the normal evening news broadcast.

That day's akuma was a short one though, something about a police officer tired of being catcalled for eating too many donuts had a particularly bad day at work. His akumatized form was almost comical: he was a big donut rolling down the streets of Paris. Apparently he managed to break a few feet as he'd roll down the streets with maniac giggles.

You could see Chat's glee from the footage, he wasn't exactly taking that particular akuma as seriously as some of the others. In fact Nino even snickered when he overheard Chat yell out " _Donut_ do this Officer!" At the top of his lungs, followed by the most disappointed sigh Ladybug had ever let escape her lips in recorded history.

'Just another day in Paris.' Nino smiled as the fight ended and Alya turned to feed to close the video with her signature "Restez connecté!" tag line at the end.

There was one thing that always annoyed Nino though, something he could never quite explain.

Everybody else took this time to chill with friends or make up impromptu study sessions or just goofed off during the akuma time, but Nino always found himself alone. Adrien was always gone, hiding somewhere or at the bathroom, Marinette was gosh knows where (probably staying close to Adrien - it's what Nino hoped she was doing) and Alya was always in the thick of it alongside their heroes.

Nino tried to make himself believe that he didn't mind, that this was his alone time and that he should be content with that but the more Akumas that happened the more he always wound up alone and wished he was with his friends spending this time together.

Nino wasn't a needy guy.

He prides himself on how little people actually need to pay attention to him, it's why he and Adrien were such good friends and why he and Alya were so strong together. Nino was never pissed or miffed that Adrien had a busy schedule, he would be there when it mattered and even though Nino wasn't technically allowed inside Adrien's gigantic mansion, the same cannot be said for Adrien visiting Nino when he manages to lose his bodyguard.

And as for Alya, he never held her back from chasing down the heroes during their confrontations with Akuma. Once they were eating out at a busy restaurant, a date they had actually called reservations for and planned a week ahead, and at that very moment there was an akuma. Nino didn't even think twice about it as he grabbed Alya's hand and they began to run towards the fight so she could get some good shots in. They ended up eating a lot of fast food that night, and Nino got a lot of _attention_ afterwards.

Lately Nino realized that his life kind of evolved around the Akumas. His girlfriend was always looking for them and had a hard-on for Ladybug (a worthy adversary for Alya's love - he knew this coming into their relationship), Adrien would get days where all he could think of was Ladybug, and Marinette sometimes reminded him of her - with the pigtails and stuff. Adrien can try to deny it but he's a hopeless Chat Noir fan too, Nino had caught him laughing too hard multiple times at Chat's puns that honestly weren't really that funny. He still didn't think that "Spots is the Cat's meow" was that funny, however it would make a good shirt to sell on the Ladyblog. In fact it was legitimately something Chat had said once; the first thing Nino woke up to that morning was a post on the Ladyblog entitled, "Things Chat Noir has Actually Said" which contained cringe worthy puns and wordplay too clever to have been invented on the spot or during a fight, which insinuated that Chat planned them out somehow.

'Heh. On the spot.' Nino thought with a grin. 'Adrien probably already thought of that one but he'd be proud.' Nino's phone buzzed in his jean pocket and he smiled as he saw who it came from.

'Speaking of the devil.'

Adrien: "Mental note: never leave school grounds during an akuma fight on a Monday."

Nino: "Dude where did you end up this time? Last Monday you travelled pretty far."

Adrien: "Farther than last time. Saw Alya too."

Nino chuckled at that. The last akuma managed to carry Adrien halfway across the city. He said that as soon as he stepped out to talk to the Gorilla he always gets swooped into moving crowds and can't exactly break free until they've travelled quite a ways away. But that's just Adrien for you, too polite to cut through and get out of said crowds so instead he just stays for the ride.

Nino was pretty sure Adrien legitimately enjoyed walking about, seeing Paris through his own eyes instead of in the shadow of the Gorilla, and for that Nino never said anything. He didn't know why Adrien felt the need to justify why he always disappeared but Nino never pried. He was his bro, not his babysitter.

Instead he would be the best friend his sheltered bro could ever want. And the best wingman for Marinette at the same time.

Nino: "So how did the fitting go yesterday at Marinette's? Did Mari break out the good stuff?"

Adrien: "She did! Nino you should have seen the accuracy. The spots are all in the right place, the red is the exact same and the Ladyblog accessory items you helped acquire had Alya in tears."

Nino smiled, his heart beating a little faster. Alya had always loved dedicating time to her blog, she would be touched to have her logo on official merch. Besides there had been a growing demand for official Ladyblog merch as well as Ladybug and Chat Noir inspired clothing on the market, Nino just wanted to throw in his grain of salt to help out with Alya's blog fame.

He had managed to acquire a discount of off a printing company that Ladybug and Chat Noir had saved from an akuma once, he played that particular angle to encourage the manager and owner to be open minded to doing business with young adults. Alya charmed her way to seal the deal and now they were set.

The Ladyblog could sell anything. Socks, shirts, snap bracelets, charms, headphones, earphones, hats, beanies, scarves, ... Anything and everything for a relatively cheap price. But of course the items that were the most in demand were the Marinette specials which were the Ladybug and Chat Noir inspired line.

Nino: "I can't wait to order a ton of stuff. Including the headphones. Even though mine are better."

Adrien: "Don't you want a picture before you buy a thousand of them? We modelled them so wonderfully."

Nino snickered as he could imagine just how much goofing off occurred.

Nino: "Alright then. Let's see you in action then, sunshine boi."

There was a pause before numerous pictures were received on Nino's phone. He snickered as he opened them.

The first picture was professional with Adrien and Alya standing side by side leaning on each other gently, Adrien's arm was casually draped on Alya's shoulders and his other hand was loosely holding onto his belt loop by his thumb. His expression was peaceful, his gaze looking away in the distance, with a small self-indulgent smile. The kind that Nino knew translated to Adrien dreamily saying "Ladybug is so cool..." with a swoon.

Beside him, Alya had her hand on her hip and her other holding her phone which had a beautiful spotted reinforced Ladyblog phone case, accompanied by her age old ladybug charm that she refused to ever part with no matter how many charms she was given over the years. She also had the newly arrived Ladyblog hat and beanie (that Adrien had been excited for), that they wore in the shoot respectively. They each had the three bracelets, the three different Ladyblog styles offered: one for the Ladyblog one for Ladybug and another for Chat Noir.

Alya looked like she was buzzing with joy, she dawned on her biggest smile that screamed "Look I've got merch!".

The next pictures were of Adrien and Alya tormenting poor Marinette and seeing how red they could make her blush, including a certain picture where Adrien held Marinette's hand in his and kissed her knuckles, he was wearing the Chat Noir pun shirt and Nino supposed he was just getting in character, but his devilish smirk had Nino's smile widen. Adrien was a _tease_ , and Marinette was as red as a tomato almost as red as the spotted Ladybug dress she and Alya wore.

Another had Marinette bashfully hiding in the spacious Chat Noir hoody which had Alya in tears on the floor and had turned Adrien flush red.

Nino: "I see you turned on your Chat Noir flair. *suggestive winky face*

Adrien: "She was bright red when we left too actually. I thought she might've actually combusted had I gone any further."

Nino snickered. 'I bet that if you kissed her for real she actually would.' He wanted to send, instead he wrote: "You know how she is man. She loves everything from the Agreste line. *good shit*!"

Adrien: "the *Gabriel* line Nino. Alya's right, you are hopeless! *winking cat emoji*"

Nino: ":O. Dude. Bro. Conspiring with my girl I see (again). I see how it is."

Adrien: "it can't be helped man. Besides, last time we surprised you with Jagged Stone tickets and if I remember correctly (which I do) you really seemed to like those. I have photographic proof."

Nino: "I disagree. Marinette was involved in obtaining those VIP tickets. It was a group effort. Thanks to her you got both Jagged Stone's and Penny Rolling's signatures."

Adrien: "I remember. *heart eyes* that show was amazing. Marinette is a boss!"

Nino smirked, he liked where this conversation was headed. Adrien quickly added another text soon after.

Adrien: "After my exclusive ladybug figurine, that CD case is my most prized possession."

Nino: "Don't you have an authentic vintage pacman arcade machine"

Adrien: "You can't put a price on emotional value Nino."

Nino: "Took the words right out of my mouth. :'] I'm so proud."

Adrien: "*picture sent*"

Nino smiled as he saw what Adrien called the picture: "prizedpossession# "

It was the CD. With three signatures. Jagged Stone, Penny Rolling and ... Marinette's?

'Oh Right!' Nino remembered seeing Adrien stare at the CD casing for the entire afternoon after the whole Jagged Stone thing. Nino's smile only increased when his eyes spotted the little heart above the i that Marinette snuck into her signature.

Adrien: "Marinette's the best. *happy crying emoji* *angel face emoji*" Was Adrien's simple reply. Nino's smile instantly dropped at those words.

'I'm so sorry he's blind Marinette.' Nino thought dejectedly. 'Our sneaking around and behind the scenes planning isn't getting you anywhere.'

Nino cracked his neck as his fingers began to furiously type. And erase. And type again, dropping his previous trail of thought that would surely get him murdered. _Just kiss already_ was not a worthy wingman message to send just yet. Nino liked to think that he had a little bit more tact than that.

Nino: "Speaking of how awesome our friends are, you missed the group assignments for our French project."

Adrien: "Madame Bustier already assigned teams?"

Nino: "This morning. But you three missed it so I have all the power right now."

Adrien: "Marinette and Alya missed it too?"

Nino: "Yep. So because you guys couldn't help me hold down the fort she chose for us. Not that it made much of a difference but you are partnered with Alya. Marinette was assigned with me."

Adrien: "I'm surprised Chloé didn't throw a fit about not being with me."

Nino: "What makes you think she didn't?"

Adrien: "Touché. I'm nearing the school now. I'll be there soon."

Nino: "Cool! Shall I await your arrival at the front gates my liege?"

Adrien: "T'would be much appreciated Serah Lahiffe."

Nino snickered as he heard the bell ring, a smile on his features.

Adrien: "oh hey Marinette mentioned yesterday that she needed your size to give you early access to the Ladyblog shirts. You can try them on in my locker anytime!"

Nino: "What's your locker combination again?"

Adrien: "7-17-27"

Nino: "*thumbs up emoji*"

-/-/-/-

Adrien never did show up at the front doors of the school. Another akuma appeared, this one was apparently tougher than the other one early in the morning so Alya was out even longer and missed the second period and all of lunch. So did Adrien and Marinette. In fact they missed the entire day.

Alya: "Nino I'm so sorry! I know I said I'd show you all the pictures from last night during lunch but I swear I'll make it up to you! Could you please put my booklet and Marinette's in my locker please? I seriously owe you!"

Nino almost wanted to ignore the texts he was getting. He was in a good mood that morning in the library but now he was just bitter.

He couldn't go to the Ladyblog shoot since he was held up at the studio where he is a PA over the weekends. He wasn't mad that he couldn't go to Marinette's and have fun with them but rather he was sad, sad that he'd missed out again. They all promised they'd tell him every detail of the shoot, yet there he was _alone_ on the following Monday, two or three akuma later.

He was so excited to see those pictures and goof off with his friends but instead he spent the entire day in the Library /waiting/, listening to music, doodling crappy sketches of ladybug and chat noir in the margins of his notebook, doodling better but still awful sketches of Alya with little hearts in his science notes (he made room for it, it was his masterpiece), actually studying, eating, and making sure he had all the copies of the homework for his elusive group of friends. All in all it was an incredibly _empty_ day.

But just because he was in a sour mood didn't mean it was his friends' faults. Alya had gotten so many hits on the Ladyblog the site almost crashed, Adrien wasn't quite sure where he ended up (and his father called him in for an impromptu photo shoot too), Marinette was in the neighbourhood called God-knows-where but then at some point during the afternoon she messaged Alya and Nino that she had to help her parents with a Bakery order. Nino really wanted to call Sabine and Tom to see if they needed more help but decided not to at the last second.

Just because his friends all but skipped school didn't mean he would suffer in detention with them (which during lunchtime skipping sounded like a great idea.) Although he started to regret his decision to wait for Adrien and co. to appear at school at around halfway through physics, hoping that he'd see at least one of them before he headed home. He was not so lucky.

Nino sighed as his bag was still too heavy. With the three copies of booklets that he had to give to his friends his bag was overfull and he would break the straps if he had to lug them around all night.

Instead he took his cellphone and brought up Adrien's locker code and made his way down into the gym, all while mumbling "7-17-27" to himself over and over, to make sure he got it memorized.

-/-/-/-/-

Ladybug threw her yo-yo with much more force than needed as she soared over the deserted Paris streets.

 _Another full day_. She thought bitterly. _Another full day of school lost._

She huffed as her yo-yo connected to another Paris street light, making her soar way above the roofs and the Parisian skyscraper skyline.

 _Why did we have three Akumas today? Does Hawkmoth not have a day job?_ She wondered as she landed on the roof of her school.

Cautiously she repelled down, into the courtyard and rushed into the nearest room.

Slamming her back against the wall she took a moment to catch her breath before the last dot of her earrings depleted.

She was thankful school was finished, as it was deserted and no one would stay after normal school hours. Besides, there were no clubs after school on Mondays, the one club she needed to look out for was theatre on Thursdays and Dare-Kim-to-do-something Thursdays.

She felt the soothing light wash over her features and she closed her eyes, holding her hands out to catch Tikki.

"Good job today Marinette! Three in a row is a little more than we are used to." Tikki congratulated after she caught her breath.

Marinette smile warmly, still panting a little herself. "... I'll make sure to get extra cookies from the bakery."

Tikki's eyes shimmered like if they were replaced by precious gems. If Marinette was honest with herself Tikki in that moment reminded her of a very expressive cartoon character who just witnessed the item of their desires pass before them.

Which honestly was probably completely true. Tikki really did _love_ cookies. It was a kind of love Marinette was envious for, since she'd probably never know what that kind of love felt like.

Tikki had been eating the same food for thousands of years, Marinette didn't know if she loved anything to that point.

For example, she loved Chat Noir. He was her partner. But if he were with her for more than a week straight she didn't know if she could not _not_ roll her eyes or sigh at him. She loved sowing but her hands would cramp up, the prices for materials keep going up which was frustrating, she'd always lose buttons, sometimes the fabric just _wouldn't_! She loved pancakes and macaroons but to have a diet entirely based on a single food would be impossible.

Tikki's love for cookies was just overpowering. Which was why Marinette never thought she'd get to that point.

'I could love Adrien forever though.' She thought with a warm smile as she circulated through the empty halls of the school.

Marinette had gotten a text from Nino earlier during the day saying that he dropped off her homework in Alya's locker since he was the only one to attend school that day. She felt a little bad for her absence, Nino was always winding up at school alone for some reason in recent months, it must truly be dreadful to keep spending days alone. She didn't know why Adrien wasn't attending school (you would think he wouldn't dare miss a day), but her being Ladybug and Alya being obsessed with her superhero persona were kind of were her fault.

Marinette reached Alya's locker (it had a huge ladybug sticker on it, you couldn't miss it - well actually Chloé's locker had an even bigger Ladybug sticker but no one went to Chloé's for exclusive content that wasn't uploaded to the Ladyblog) and her shoulders dropped as she saw the lock.

"Shoot. Tikki it's her new lock! I don't know the combination to this one."

Alya's previous lock was plain black with a silver dial in the middle, this new one was red and was directional, so you had to push the middle nob in a specific 4 direction combination, using left, right, up, and down.

Tikki popped her head out of Marinette's purse and frowned as she too saw the new lock. A cookie still half in her mouth she phased through the locker door. A few seconds later she had Marinette's French homework in her tiny hands and the cookie disappeared, only crumbs remaining on her little red cheeks.

Marinette giggled as Tikki presented the source material that will become her own personal hell for the next few hours with a flourish and a little delightful "Tada!"

But Marinette's happiness quickly evaporated as she heard a sharp intake of breath at the end of the hall.

Marinette spun around on her heel, her arms up and ready by reflex, she could see Tikki phase back through her purse and her homework fell to the floor with a loud thud.

Marinette relaxed her stance slightly once she saw who it was but the rapid beating in her chest never ceased.

"Nino... Um I..." She blabbered as she took in the scene.

Nino's mouth was open, his left hand was loosely gripping his headphones, his eyes were glued on Marinette (so much so that he wasn't even blinking).

The most unnerving thing to Marinette was what he was doing with his phone.

It was brought up to shoulder level and he held it straight up. _He was filming!?_ He wasn't that far away either, only a few meters separated them, so he could definitely have video evidence... Crap.

"Nino... This isn't what it looks like..." She spoke softly, lowering her fists and taking a few cautious steps forward. She didn't know how people usually reacted to seeing some sort of magical red _thing_ phase through material obstacles but if Nino planned on running she'd be ready to catch him and hoped that his video wasn't long enough to expose her. If it was well... she'd get rid of it... by any means necessary.

She had broken and lost and tampered with a few phones in her time, what was one more?

Nino didn't run though. He simply looked from Marinette's purse to her homework presently laying on the floor and up to Marinette's purse where he definitely saw Tikki hide in.

"Nino... If I can explain will you listen?"

There was another uncomfortably silent moment between them where no one dared move an inch before Nino cleared his throat and blinked a few times, no doubt reviving his eyeballs from the drought they had just experienced.

"If you do," he began, uneasy and unsure of what he had seen exactly. "will you tell me the truth or will it be something you just came up with?"

"What do you want to know?" She asked softly but firmly. She was so nervous and stressed and afraid that she couldn't feel her legs. The only way that she knew she was still standing was the fact that she was still looking straight ahead and not right at the floor. A little voice in the back of her mind told her that maybe her experience with standing straight while flustered when Adrien was around was a good training substitute.

She, however, was not ready for an encounter like this. Sure she knew it was always a possibility but she had never actually been backed up in a corner this tight before. She began to think that she might not be able to get out of this one...

"What was that red thing?" He asked, his finger pointing to Marinette's purse. His hand was surprisingly steady, whereas hers weren't...

"What red thing?" Marinette asked, trying the innocent route first. Denial, denial, denial. Somehow she knew claiming Tikki to be a new plush from Japan wasn't going to work on Nino, he had seen much more than the Gorilla.

Nino frowned, unimpressed. He turned his phone towards her, showing a still of Tikki holding a cookie in her mouth looking at the locker in question.

"Want to try that again?" He asked, his tone sounded harsh and quite frankly, insulted.

It seemed Nino didn't have such a good day at school after all.

"I... Nino I can't-..."

And for the first time Marinette had nothing to say. It wasn't that she couldn't say anything she knew her words and her spelling, it wasn't the phonetics that she struggled with at that moment but the simple fact that she couldn't say anything to make it better rendered her speechless.

As Marinette was at a loss, she heard the soothing voice of Tikki, a little muffled from her purse,

" _Marinette... It's alright. You can tell him. He can know_."

The breath Marinette held was pushed out of her lungs as relief flooded her. All that stress she had picked up in that moment had been exhaled but then the shear fact that she could talk about _it_ made everything instantly better.

Nino was mad at her now, yes she regretted that it came to that, but is he going to be mad that she was the Hero of Paris herself? No, no he wouldn't. Probably. Maybe?

She took three steps forwards and grabbed Nino's wrist and before he could protest she tugged him towards the school exit.

"I'll tell you everything. Just not here." She urged and Nino remained quiet.

She hated potentially making him more mad but the fact that he didn't fight her hold was an improvement in her books.

The walk to Marinette's parents' bakery was a silent and uncomfortable one. For Nino his head was swimming, unsure of what exactly resided inside of Marinette's purse. How long has she had this red bug? What else could it do? Was it sentient? Was it a reasoning being or some sort of weird alien space pet-thing? Was it an "it" at all?

As for Marinette, well ...

The calm and collected Marinette was long gone and now she was mostly screaming internally, claiming that her world was ending, that she'd let Nino down which in turn would somehow let Adrien down and that would cause him to never love her and over exaggerating, as per usual.

Once they reached the entrance of the bakery and the soothing smells of bread and sweets hit them their tensions diminished, it was almost like magic, effective the moment you walked through the door.

"Maman! Papa! I'm home!" She called out. She released Nino's wrist and called out again. "Nino's here too!"

Nino tried to keep his features ... plausibly normal in front of Marinette's parents but he couldn't accomplish it as well as he hoped. In fact both Tom and Sabine separately asked him if he was well and if he wanted something to eat something to soothe whatever aches he had. Mr D asked him at the door, and Ms C at the counter.

He always loved going to Marinette's, not just for Marinette and her awesome sowing skills but also because her parents were literally everyone else's second pair of parents. They were so good at making you feel loved and treasured that you'd swear you were already adopted in the Dupain-Cheng family. The effect is felt by everyone, regardless of age.

"It's alright Ms C. It's just been a long day."

Sabine smiled warmly, a feature he saw so often on Marinette, "Well then just remember you are always welcome here."

There it is, there's the warm parenting feeling right there.

Nino was so sidetracked that Sabine managed to snatch them both up for another conversation topic. Nino almost forgot that he and Marinette had a pressing major conversation to get to. _Almost_.

"It's been such a long time since you've visited! What's the occasion?"

Marinette tensed up once more. She probably would have talked endlessly about the recent Ladyblog project she was working on, but luckily Nino was quicker on his feet.

"We have a French project together. We decided to get started as soon as possible." He smiled back.

Marinette was surprised at how quick Nino had answered, she knew he wasn't lying either. She read her texts and was pleased to actually be in a project with him. She caught herself thinking that he would have made a good miraculous holder himself, if their roles were reversed. Or at least, if he was willing, he could be a great cover for her if the occasion called for it.

Sabine waved them goodbye and told them to get ready for a good supper later on but they could feel free to take whatever snacks they wanted from the bakery in the meantime.

Nino saw Marinette grab a handful of macaroons and a bag of cookies, so he too decided to load up on the sweets in front of him before following behind her, towards her bedroom.

Once safely hidden away from the world and engulfed in a soothing warm pink world, Nino visibly deflated and pivoted towards Marinette faster than you could humanly turn on your heel without breaking it.

"Ok Spill."

Marinette jumped as Nino's voice shot through the air and she dropped the trap door as a result of it, which made the both of them jump.

She took a few seconds to calm her thundering heart before taking a deep breath and standing tall, hands together holding her purse in front of her, her back strong and her knees locked.

She turned to Nino with a gaze he had never seen on her features before, the usually expressive and bubbly Marinette was completely dead serious in her demeanour, it honestly scared Nino a lot more than he imagined it would. It almost made him drop the croissant in his mouth. _Almost_.

"I'll tell you everything under one condition. And you know what that condition is." She took a moment for her words to sink in, to make sure Nino understood the severity of the little red secret she hid in her purse on a daily basis. He nodded, she proceeded. "Not even _Alya,_ Nino. She can't know."

Nino felt uneasy at Marinette's request but nodded nonetheless.

He wanted to know what that red creature was. How could it phase through actual physical shit. Nino was positive he wasn't hallucinating but how could it be possible. This was bigger than him, it was bigger than a lot of things.

So if Marinette told him to tell no one, then that was exactly what he was going to do.

He heard Marinette take another deep breath as she reached over and opened her purse.

A few seconds later a red thing came flying out of it. It had two little antennas floating behind it's head, a fluffy looking tail thing, large black spots adorning it's body in logical locations, more noticeably on her forehead in between the two biggest blues eyes with dramatically long lashes he'd ever seen.

It looked like one of those weird plushies you could buy on the international markets, or like from Japan. Like one of those weird talking cats they had on sale a few weeks back that Adrien wanted so badly.

Except for this one was flying.

"How... What..?" Nino blubbered as Tikki threw cautious and timed looks to both Nino and Marinette in anticipation of being introduced to someone new for the first time in several hundred years since meeting Marinette.

"Nino, this is Tikki." She offered her hands as a perch and Tikki flew to them with a warm smile and offered small encouraging taps on Marinette's hands. "She's my Kwami."

Tikki waved and smiled warmly as she greeted Nino, "Hello Nino." When Nino spluttered various noises Tikki giggled, unable to hold in her bubbling glee at finally meeting someone from Marinette's everyday life.

Nino didn't know where to look. "Tikki" was by the far the most mind baffling thing that Nino had ever seen... That was including those big eyes of hers who were presently looking right at him for some sort of reaction to her existence.

"What's a uhm, a Kwami?" Nino asked, slowly putting his hands together and ignoring how clammy his palms became.

"A Kwami is a magical little creature who accords ... Actually I'm not quite sure at a 100% just exactly what she does but uhm... Yea just hold on a minute. This will explain everything." Marinette added nervously.

Nino was about to ask more questions when Marinette suddenly said: "Tikki spots on!"

The room was drowned in a bright red light, as well as other hues of the colour, Nino hid behind his cap while wondering what on earth was happening. There wasn't a drastic breeze or even the slightest change of temperature, just an increasingly bright light that didn't actually illuminate anything as the room didn't become any brighter than it should have.

When the light was gone Nino blinked a few times and looked up. Then he froze in that spot for a while.

Because before him stood Ladybug. Ladybug with a very _Marinette_ -like sheepish expression.

"Surprise?" Ladybug asked, her cheeks red with embarrassment and her shoulders pushed forwards in uncertainty.

Nino couldn't move. How could he? Alya had been hunting down Ladybug's identity since the beginning of school and he _just stumbled upon who it was and had known her since elementary school!_

Nino's gaze slowly fell to the floor as his right hand came up to brush his hair with his fingers, effectively pushing his cap to the ground with a thud. Marinette saw him sway considerably since her transformation so she reached her rolley-chair with her yo-yo and tugged it just in time for Nino to fall in it comfortably.

Marinette may have experience with sudden lightheadedness but Nino definitely didn't, the secret was in the stance. Besides, he needed to find and stalk the love of his life for at least a year before even getting close to Marinette's level.

Nino took a few moments of silence by just observing her and her room with the softer version of his "surprise face". He looked around her room, starting to notice several secret ladybug things in her room, such as the few akuma inspired clothing sketches, the Ladyblog on her monitor, the numerous detention slips, the ladybug sign on her cookie jar, the cat pillow she had on her bed... Everything was just so right that he started to strongly believe that they are all idiots for not seeing it before.

A smile slowly invaded his minor surprise, since honestly it just made perfect sense that she'd be Ladybug, and he was pleased to see that Marinette eased up at the sight of his absent anger from before.

"Marinette? ... Is that you in there?" Nino asked cautiously, taking a step forwards rolling the chair forward.

"Hello Nino." She greeted, hooking her yo-yo back on her hip and releasing Nino's chair from the hold of her string.

Then Nino did something she did not expect.

He got up abruptly, took a few steps forwards and requested a fist bump.

She shot him the most brilliant smile in answer to his own and met his fist with a whisper of "Bien joué." which had Nino positively buzzing.

He jumped from one question to another, pacing around her while keeping eye contact and giddy excitement.

"How did you become Ladybug? Were you chosen? Was it passed on to you? Was Alya right in anything? Was I a hard akuma to fight? How the hell did you keep this from Alya this whole time? I can't keep anything from her and then you keep this hidden away?" He fell to his knees, his hands in prayer. "Teach me your ways."

Ladybug giggled and shook her head, lifting him up by his elbows in the best casual show of 'show off how strong you are' Nino had ever experienced.

"I will answer everything you ask. Only you have to keep it to yourself."

Nino nodded.

They couldn't say much however as Ladybug's yo-yo rang.

She frowned, why was Chat transformed so early on patrol day? She took a second to laugh at Nino's expression of pure glee before flicking her yo-yo open.

"Chat, what's the issue?"

His serious expression immediately put her on edge. Usually Chat is always chipper and ready to go with enthusiasm, a freaking energizer bunny-cat combo. Rare were the times where Chat would be dead serious outside of battle.

This was one of them.

"My Lady you won't be happy with this." He said, with an apologetic frown, like he was caught with his hand in the cookie jar.

"Chat... What happened?"

"Someone... _Knows_."

Ladybug's eyes opened wide. But it wasn't that Chat's identity that she was scared of, but rather it was the unmistakeable triumphant cry of victory that she heard afterwards.

Chat sent her a sheepish smile as he moved his baton to face the one and only Alya Césaire herself.

"I need to call Nino! He's going to freak!" She said as she took out her phone, dialling quickly.

Hearing his name, Nino rushed forwards and made cutting motions across his neck. "They'll hear!" He whispered as he pointed to his phone.

Ladybug quickly told Chat to meet her at their usual patrol place before squeezing in a "I really need to go bye!" before closing her compact in time for Nino's ringtone to go off.

They both sighed in relief when Ladybug closed her yo-yo just in time, she sent him a thumbs up and a wink which he understood was the go ahead to answer Alya.

"What's clicking good lookin'?" He answered jovially. While Nino spoke with an overexcited Alya, Ladybug decided to try and formulate a plan based on what she knew.

Both she and Chat had been compromised. She had to think back at where she went wrong, in the process of analyzing her day she took a moment to truly admire Nino's quick reflexes.

He was able to sneak up on Tikki without really trying, he was able to take photographic evidence just as quietly, he wasn't afraid to face a friend for the truth, he understood the importance of secrecy and now actively helped her keep it.

Once again Ladybug was surprised at how well Nino was adapting. She wouldn't have even thought that his distinct ringtone might be heard by Chat and Alya, that would have been a trainwreck and a half. It was all avoided because of Nino.

Alya's call was long enough for Marinette to detransform and manage to do half of her homework. It took Sabine to call them down to diner before Alya conceded and let Nino hang up.

In a day they both had gotten discovered. She didn't feel particularly lucky at that moment but at least one really good thing happened.

They now both had someone to confide to.

And that was something she didn't know she needed until she got the greatest gift that was Nino Lahiffe's friendship.


End file.
